The use of a suction catheter to remove accumulated mucous from a patients airway is widely used and known. Sterile handling of the catheter and connection to the ventilating machine have also been proposed and discovered. Dryden, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,500, first disclosed a catheter with a sleeve and a device which first addressed the sterile technique and ventilator problems.
One of the main problems with Dryden was the fact that when it was connected to the ventilating machine that oxygen being delivered to the patient would inflate the protective sleeve and oxygen was lost through the open valve.
To solve these problems, Radford, U.S. Pat. No. 3,991,762, proposed a frontal seal which prevented the sleeve or envelope from inflating and a rear valve mechanism which prevented oxygen from escaping into the atmosphere.
Most recently, Palmer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,296, disclosed an Aspirating/Ventilating Apparatus and Method with a protective catheter sleeve, a frontal catheter seal, an irrigation port located frontally and a rather complex normally closed proximal valve mechanism.
The prior art is discussed in considerable detail in all these patents.
To my knowledge, the device of Palmer is the only one which is commercially available although it is very expensive (approximately $12.00 each) versus a regular suction catheter without the Palmer features of around $0.50 each.
In spite of the expense of Palmer many hospitals have begun using the Palmer device since its catheter sleeve offers contamination protection to the user and the device once attached to the ventilator can be reused to suction the patient.
Protection to the healthcare worker from coming in contact with body secretions is very important because of possible Hipatitus or HIV infection from contact with body fluids.
The device of Palmer does offer that protection to the user and has proven successful in spite of the expense to the healthcare system.